5 unexpectedly expected events at SDP’s third rally

We witnessed a gathering of anti government personalities.

Matthias Ang | Marcus Tan | May 04, 2016, 02:55 PM

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) held its third rally at the field along Bukit Batok Industrial Park A last night, by far its richest and most resplendent yet.

Here, we describe five unexpected proceedings at the rally:

1. Actress Neo Swee Lin rejuvenating the crowd and drawing the loudest cheers

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The biggest surprise was Neo, actress from W!ld Rice and television personality, showing up as one of the guest speakers in the middle of the rally and boy, did she manage to get the crowd all fired up.

Starting off with a little self-deprecation about being a "freelance actor" and not someone who "langgar motorcycle", Neo talked about how she became involved in "politics through the stage", through the play Cooling-Off Day by Alfian Sa’at in 2011 where she played Teo Soh Lung, one of the people detained under "Operation Spectrum" in 1987.

Highlighting a particular line that inspired her, "Everybody should be involved in politics. Why are we so afraid?" This elicited the first of many loud cheers from the crowd.

Neo spelled out her vision of how a "perfect future" would look like in Singapore: "a true democracy...where more balanced views are represented in Parliament", a vision that would never materialize with “one ruling party dominating the political scene.”

By this time, the cheers were coming on fast and furious, together with the trumpeting of SDP whistles. Neo added that the ruling party which dominates the scene also became "callous" by engaging in "gutter politics".

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Pulling no punches, Neo proceeded to criticise Minister Grace Fu and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong by stating,

"As an artist, I was so ashamed that my own Minister of Culture attacked Dr. Chee Soon Juan personally. Then my own Prime Minister did the same."

Again, cheers resounded from the crowd. She then revealed the existence of an open letter on rejecting gutter politics that had been sent to all newspapers and proceeded to read the letter out to the audience.

Riding on the wave of roaring approval to the open letter, Neo ended with her personal testimony of Chee Soon Juan, gushing about how she first met him during the GE2011 and found him to be a "very nice person", "a gentleman, nothing like what the media then had painted him out to be."

Five years on and she has been "moved by his passion, impressed by his dedication," and reaffirmed her belief that Chee was a person "of true integrity", "who will stand up for the people who have no one to represent them".

By this time the whistles were going off non-stop and Neo concluded her testimony with the statement that “through the hardship he’s had to endure, I think he’s become a wise statesman.”

Perhaps feeling a bit overwhelmed with emotion by now, Neo brought her speech to a close with the familiar please-vote-in-Dr-Chee rhetoric.

It was comparatively more heartfelt than the other speakers: "Residents of Bukit Batok, I envy you. You’re so lucky. You have a chance to vote for Dr. Chee Soon Juan this time."

 

2. Raising the issue of Private Dominique Lee’s unfortunate passing seems somewhat irrelevant to the Bukit Batok by-election.

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When SDP's Jaslyn Go took the stage, she proceeded to invoke the passing of Private Dominique Lee, stirring the crowd’s emotions heavily, by criticising how the response to Lee’s death was "heartless" and "insensitive", especially when "the Minister himself said that the officers responsible for the incident were punished by career setbacks and fines over Dominique’s death."

The SDP candidate for Yuhua in GE 2015 accused the Minister of measuring the "death of a Singapore son" against the "career and monetary penalties of those who caused his death." The crowd responded enthusiastically with applause.

Go emphasised how she wanted her son "to be proud of donning the SAF uniform and knowing the importance of his role in defending the country" but that it was necessary for parents to know that the Government "is there" with "the highest safety standards for our sons."

She further demanded that the Government be fully accountable and responsible instead of "hiding behind the veil of the law", eliciting thunderous applause and whistle-blowing from the crowd. She added that The Government will never understand that for Dominique’s family, "money means little when their blood and future is already dead."

Jaslyn assured the crowd that the SDP legal clinic will address such issues, unlike the PAP legal clinics whom she implied will not help to hold the Government accountable, as "not even one minister even bothered to personally offer a word of condolence."

We are curious to know at this point though: is offering a word of condolence the same as offering legal recourse?

After all, Minister Ng apologised to the families of Lee during his 2012 Ministerial statement, adding that the “SAF and MINDEF are deeply sorry for the untimely and tragic loss of PTE Lee” and the anguish and distress it has brought to their families

There is also quite a degree of difference between one action (offering condolence) and the other (offering legal recourse).

Not that this issue seemed to bother Go or the crowd at the moment as she urged all mothers "to protect their son from an uncaring government that simply refuses to take accountability for hardly anything," to more applause.

 

3. Paul Tambyah’s coke analogy that was difficult to follow

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Breaking away from his usual fare of succinct analyses and clever puns, the SDP star candidate for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC in GE 2015 condemned the establishment’s apparent obsession with misrepresenting Chee via a tedious narration that felt more like a humdrum recital rather than a snarky parable.

In the words of Tambyah:

I would like to share a little parable. It is an ‘inclusive’ parable [sic]. In other words, it is made up, but it has got some meaning. It is based on the internet meme which I saw a couple of days ago. Listen, it goes like this.

Chee Soon Juan is pictured drinking a can of coke. The Wanbao runs a story that goes like this: Dr Chee is proud of his wild and crazy Coca-Cola drinking habits. The Prime Minister reads the Wanbao and says: “Oh, I’ve known Dr Chee for many years and he hasn’t changed - coke, Pepsi - it’s always soft drinks for him”. Madam Halimah Yacob chips in: “We are Asians, we are Singaporeans. Dr Chee should not be drinking coke. He should be drinking soya-bean or chrysanthemum tea. Ms Grace Fu replies: “he is unemployed and therefore worthless, how does he afford to drink coke?”

The Straits Times decides to go one better and publishes a story saying: “Dr Chee says that nutrition does not matter.” Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat reads that and reports “that is the most astounding thing I’ve ever heard in Singapore politics and public health. How can anyone deny the importance of basic nutrition? That means anyone can be free to drink a soft drink at will, without being accountable for his weight. Truly astounding!”

Not to be outdone, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong writes on his Facebook page: “I have amnesia. Maybe 15 years ago, I recall Dr Chee reaching out and giving one tight tug on a can of coke”. No one really know what he means.

But jokes aside, I think we all agree that character is important. A person’s character however, is not determined by distorted media reports or from some wayang show. Character is something which is best determined by those who knows you best, those who can see you apart from the limelight, away from the cameras. They know who you really are.

 

 

4. Return Our CPF...returns

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Halfway into his speech, Chee brought up a letter written to the TODAY newspaper by Phan Pang Chia in which Phan questioned the CPF’s statement that his wife’s "retirement account balance can last her another 64 years."

Before we knew it, Chee had segued into questioning "whether the Government is withholding our CPF money because it doesn’t have enough funds to pay us all back, because of its failed investments."

Chee then outlined a kind of paradox by quoting a few studies on how inability to retire in Singapore was unhealthily high compared to the global average, yet with the CPF scheme, Singaporeans "are one of the biggest savers in the world for retirement."

This paradox is apparently the result of "The Government driv[ing] us to use our money to buy HDB flats." On top of that, "it then jacks up HDB prices so that we have to use more and more of our CPF to buy our homes."

Chee then said that the CPF money was now in the hands of the Government where it is used as funds in global investments.

Perhaps it was no surprise then that tonight also saw the presence of CPF blogger Roy Ngerng:

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We guess he came down to take a leaf out of Chee’s book.

Or an autograph by Chee on one of Chee's book.

 

5. Amos Yee showed up again. This time, he wasn’t alone…

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Amos Yee’s appearance at SDP’s first by-election rally preceded a video where he expounded why Bukit Batok residents should not vote for Dr Chee in this By-Election. Unsurprisingly, Yee’s latest effort was teeming with sarcasm and sardonic humor.

While we had an uncanny feeling that more BE2016 videos shall emerge from Amos’ "studio", we did not expect him to proceed with filming outdoors.

The boisterous YouTuber was flanked by a pair of teens armed with recording equipment.

It will be interesting to see what Yee is up to next.

Photographs supplied by Cheah Wenqi and Ng Yishu.

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